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The first time Walt sold Gus meth was toward the end of season 2 of Breaking Bad after they met in Los Pollos Hermanos. Guss trait as a careful man is highlighted several times. One example was his straight up refusal to even speak to Walt because he saw that Jesse was high. However, he goes on to do the transaction. Walt gets his money and Gus gets the meth. At this stage Gus didn't know Walt had a brother in-law in the DEA.

Then, in the final episode of season 2 Gus visits the DEA office as he's sponsoring a fun run. While in the office he spots a picture of Walter. He asks Hank who the picture is of and Hank explains that its his brother in-law.

The next time we see Gus is when Walt goes to Los Pollos Hermanos to tell him he's retiring. Gus straight out offers him 3 million (I believe? I need to check the figure) for 3 months work. I find it a bit hard to believe, seeing as how there was such emphasis on him being a careful man, that he would talk to him in this way the very next time he sees him after finding out about Hank.

Why did he take this action?

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  • Its a good question. The brother-in-law relationship can work two ways, it may have even blinded Hank to Walts part in this - even back in the days where Walt was stealing equipment from his school, Hank viewed him as above suspicion as it is so far from his image of Walt.
    – iandotkelly ♦
    Commented Oct 22, 2013 at 15:25
  • When Gus showed blue meth to Gale, Gale was very impressed and told Gus that he (Gus) deserved the best product. So I guess Gus's intent was to make sure Gale has learned the recipe for blue meth ASAP, and then kill Walt and have Gale take over.
    – A-K
    Commented Oct 23, 2013 at 15:00

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I always figured it was because Gus realized at that moment that Walt and he shared similar methodologies, and Gus realized that in order for Walt to remain hidden from the DEA, he must also be an incredibly careful man.

He misjudged Walt based on Jesse's condition, and this was the moment he realized there was more to the man.

As a more sinister aside, Gus gained a huge amount of leverage over Walt by learning such personal information. If he was serious about going into partnership with Walt, sure he could have gotten Mike to do some investigative work anyway, but the opportunity presented itself to him and he simply took him up on it.

Gus is clearly trying to gain some kind of insight into the workings of the DEA, it's no coincidence he's sponsoring them for a fun-run. He's proactively ingratiating himself into their operations; either for intelligence, to better camouflage his operation or possibly a mixture of both.

Having Walt onside is a risk, but a calculated one, and possibly one in which the benefits (to Gus at least) outweigh the danger.

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By that time Gus had invested massive amounts of money on building the meth lab beneath the laundry, and probably had a huge list of customers waiting on the blue meth with their hands on their wallets. Also, Gus had yet to find a replacement for Walt. So letting go of Walt now would've meant a massive financial loss. Apparently it was a loss Gus (and his partners?) were averse to undertake. However, Gus becomes much more careful with Walt afterwards and puts in motion plans to replace him as meth cook.

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    The meth lab was built for Gale, and it was almost ready to go at the time Gus met Walt. Presumably the lab would be profitable even if Gus killed Walt, or any other competitor, right away, and just let Gale cook.
    – A-K
    Commented Oct 23, 2013 at 14:54

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